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Mom Helps Her Adopted Daughter Reinvent Her Identity Through Incredible Cosplay Photos

By Jenny Zhang on October 31, 2014

Meet Alice Lewis, a 9-year-old girl who expresses her extraordinary imagination and personality through stunning cosplay photos captured by her adoptive mother, photographer Kelly Lewis. An aspiring model and actress, Alice embodies different characters with remarkable ease in front of the camera, transforming herself completely into iconic figures like Joan of Arc, Wonder Woman, Edward Scissorhands, and Margot Tenenbaum with the help of intricate costumes, styling, props, and her mom's photography skills.

Alice's passion for modeling and cosplay are not only fun hobbies, but also important ways for her to explore who she is. When the young girl was adopted by the Lewis family at the age of 7, she decided to change her name to Alice (after the beloved character from Lewis Caroll's books) as a way to reinvent her identity on her own terms. After six years of abuse, neglect, and bouncing around foster homes, Alice finally found her forever family–her very own wonderland.

According to Kelly, her daughter is proud of her identity and her adoption. On her Tumblr, the photographer writes, “Alice loves sharing her story so that others might get inspired to adopt a child, an older one at that. Reading another child's adoption story is what inspired us to foster-to-adopt in the first place. And while I don't introduce Alice as my ‘adopted daughter' […] we don't keep it a secret where she came from. It's part of her identity and I never want her to be ashamed of it. It's relevant to the portraits we create together because it's what we do to bond. We didn't have a natural maternal link–we created one the best way we knew how and it's stronger that I could have ever imagined.”

Above: Joan of Arc

Wonder Woman